After carefully reviewing the transcript of the speech [Monday] night, I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that the honorable step for the president is to resign to protect America and the presidency.

-- John Ashcroft, Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

U.S. President Bill Clinton celebrates his 52nd birthday.

A funeral service is scheduled to be held in Lamar, Missouri, for Army Sgt. Kenneth Hobson II, one of 12 Americans killed in embassy bombings.

On Thursday, August 20, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright departs for Santa Fe, New Mexico, to meet with the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations.

On Friday, August 21, Cuban President Fidel Castro is to visit the Dominican Republic -- his first visit since coming to power in 1959.

On Sunday, August 23, the World Conference on Volunteerism is scheduled to begin in Edmonton, Alberta.

On Monday, August, 24, a trial is scheduled to be held in Kansas City, Missouri, for a woman claiming a radio talk show host defamed her by reporting that former Sen. Bob Dole helped her get an abortion in the early 1970s.

America's Health Network is scheduled to broadcast live open-heart surgery on its Web site and cable TV channel. This is
the second in a series of such events by AHN, which broadcast a live birth in June. For your viewing pleasure, click here.

Today is Independence Day in Afghanistan.

Author Ring Lardner Jr. ("M*A*S*H") is 83.

Former jockey Willie Shoemaker is 67.

Actress Diana Muldaur ("LA Law") is 60.

Actress Jill St. John ("Hart to Hart") is 58.

Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tennessee, is 56.

U.S. President Bill Clinton is 52.

Tipper Gore, wife of U.S. Vice President Al Gore, is 50.

Actor Gerald McRaney ("Major Dad") is 50.

Actor Jonathan Frakes ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") is 46.

Political consultant Mary Matalin is 45.

Actor Peter Gallagher ("Malice") is 43.

Actor Adam Arkin ("Chicago Hope") is 42.

Actor John Stamos ("Full House") is 35.

Actress Kyra Sedgwick ("Singles") is 33.

Actor Kevin Dillon ("The Doors") is 33.

Country singer Lee Ann Womack is 32.

MTV reporter Tabitha Soren is 31.

Actor Matthew Perry ("Friends") is 29.

Tennis player Mary Joe Fernandez is 27.

Actor J. Evan Bonifant ("Blues Brothers 2000") is 13.

In 14, Augustus, the first Roman Emperor and adopted son of Julius Caesar, died.

In 1477, Maximilian I, son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, married Mary of Burgundy and acquired the Burgundian possessions in the Netherlands and France.

In 1493, Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor, died and was succeeded by Maximilian I.

In 1561, Mary Queen of Scots arrived in Scotland to assume the throne after spending 13 years in France.

In 1587, Sigismund III, son of John of Sweden, was elected King of Poland. He sought a union of Poland with Sweden but instead created hostility and war between the two.

In 1601, Michael the Brave, Romanian national hero, was assassinated.

In 1772, Gustav III seized effective control of the Swedish government and restored the full power of the monarchy which had been subordinate to parliament since 1720.

In 1812, in the Anglo-American war of 1812, the U.S. warship Constitution defeated the British frigate Guerriere.

In 1839, details of Louis Daguerre's first practical photographic process were released in Paris.

In 1934, Germans voted to give Adolf Hitler the presidency in addition to being chancellor.

In 1936, Federico Garcia Lorca, leading Spanish writer and poet, was shot dead by Fascists at the beginning of the civil war.

In 1940, Italian troops forced the British to withdraw from Somaliland.

In 1942, British and Canadian troops launched a disastrous attack on German-held Dieppe. Of the 6,000 troops involved, only about 2,500 returned. The rest were killed or captured.

In 1953, Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq was overthrown in a coup in Iran. General Zahedi took over and the shah returned from exile in Italy.

In 1960, the Soviet Sputnik 5 satellite was launched into Earth orbit carrying two dogs named Belka and Strelka.

In 1960, Gary Powers, the U.S. spy plane pilot shot down by the Russians over Soviet territory, was sentenced to 10 years detention.

In 1966, a severe earthquake in Turkey killed over 2,000.

In 1973, George Papadopoulos was sworn in as president of Greece as the monarchy came to an end. He lifted martial law, in effect since 1967, but was overthrown in a coup in November.

In 1974, Roger Davis, U.S. ambassador to Cyprus, was shot dead during anti-American demonstrations in Nicosia.

In 1978, a fire in a theater set by Muslims extremists in Abadan, Iran, killed over 400 people.

In 1979, Soviet Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakov and Valery Ryumin returned to Earth aboard Soyuz 34 after a record 175 days in space.

In 1980, 301 people died when fire swept through a Saudi Arabian airliner as it made an emergency landing at Riyadh airport.

In 1987, in Britain's worst mass killing, gunman Michael Ryan shot dead 16 people during a rampage through Hungerford.

In 1991, an abortive coup by hard-liners against Soviet President Gorbachev began. It collapsed two days later.

In 1995, U.S. envoy Robert Frasure and three others were killed when their vehicle plunged off a road near Sarajevo.